W1KOO - Mt. Mansfield, Vermont :

(Up dated 9/09) The Burlington Amateur radio Club (BARC) has operated repeaters stations on Mt. Mansfield for many years. The equipment is presently located in the area designated for communications use in a building owned by Vermont Educational Television (ETV) now called Vermont Public Television (VPT). This building is located in the South end of the "nose" of the mountain. If you look at the profile of the mountain from a far distance it looks like the side view of a face looking skyward. The nose is the high point to the south and the chin is the highest point on the mountain to the north.

In 2003 a joint effort by BARC, NFMRA and W1IMD was undertaken to up grade the old UHF system which had been in operation there for several years with newer equipment and attempt to bring the system up to a good operating condition. Because of the intense radiation (RFI) and inter-mod created by all the TV, FM and other communication transmitters located in the immediate area, it was not an easy task to make a repeater station work well. But time and patience by W1IMD prevailed and the system now operates very well. The equipment in use at this site is a Motorola MSF-5000 which operates on a frequency of 447.175 / 442.175. CTCSS tones are required to access the repeater, 82.5 Hz. for local operation and 71.9 HZ. to link into the MT Washington system.

An addition to the configuration of this system is in the works and when completed the UHF repeater will also be linked into the NFMRA hub station at Killington.

Over the last year or so, a major consolidation of all the equipment on the mountain has taken place in the area where the TV stations and other communications equipment are located. The transition from analog to a digital TV format necessitated removing and replacing towers, etc., which in turn required moving the amateur antennas from place to place as renovations progressed. When a permanent place has been agreed upon for the antennas and equipment, the final objective for this station, we hope, will be achieved.